The Newell .45 cal front loader

ddavelarsen said:
Bruce are you making your springs, or do you buy them? If so, I'm curious how they're designated. Is a spring's strength dependent on the wire gauge and diameter? Or some other factor? I'm just curious, not urgent. Have a great day!
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This spring is from a gunsmith friend of mine and is just an educated guess at whether it will work for this gun. I have wound my own springs on a custom turned mandrel in my lathe and may need to make one for this application. The machinery handbook has a chart that gives mandrel sizes for all wire gauges to arrive at a given diameter.
Another genious friend of mine bought every wire size available on ebay and gave me some of each if I need to make one. The wire diameter and the distance between the coils determines the spring rate. Given the same wire diameter, the wider the spacing between the coils, the stronger spring rate.
 
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That makes sense. How do you program the space between the coils? Do you do that manually? Thread gearing might be a way to accomplish that too. Hm.
 
ddavelarsen said:
That makes sense. How do you program the space between the coils? Do you do that manually? Thread gearing might be a way to accomplish that too. Hm.
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Run the lathe on a low speed and wrap two wires on the mandrel at the same time. One of the wires is a soft one of the same diameter I want the space to be. The soft wire is discarded afterward. It takes a little practice and the beginning section of the spring is unusable. There may be a better way but more complicated for just one spring. I also have a huge catalog of springs if all else fails.:D
 
ddavelarsen said:
That makes sense. How do you program the space between the coils? Do you do that manually? Thread gearing might be a way to accomplish that too. Hm.
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http://www.americangunsmith.com/view.php?id=55


AGI has a good video on spring making If you are really interested.

2 DVD's actually, one for coil springs, one for flat...although for a knifemaker, the flat spring video is pretty redundant.

Preview
[youtube]WyTkX6eIWzM[/youtube]
 
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Wow, you just gotta love the internet. That video looks excellent! And it made me realize all over again the wealth of instruction that's available today. I almost wish I were young again so I could start over doing something I would find truly rewarding for a career. Since we don't get do-overs though, I'll just take advantage of what I have left. :) Thanks for the recommendation!
 
I cant believe I have missed this thread somehow.
It just occurred to me knife making is like no other trade or vocation, here are those of us just on the cusp of learning getting to watch masters of the craft willing to share all of their knowledge for the simple price of bettering the knife community. It is like an aspiring guitarist getting to jam with Hendrix everyday, or a painter sitting in the room with Da Vinci.
Bruce I for one am grateful.

Sean
 
Sean Cochran said:
I cant believe I have missed this thread somehow.
It just occurred to me knife making is like no other trade or vocation, here are those of us just on the cusp of learning getting to watch masters of the craft willing to share all of their knowledge for the simple price of bettering the knife community. It is like an aspiring guitarist getting to jam with Hendrix everyday, or a painter sitting in the room with Da Vinci.
Bruce I for one am grateful.

Sean
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Hi Sean, Thanks man. I cherish your compliments.

This type of learning was not possible before internet. Now we can even put a U-tube video on with just a click of the mouse. I just enjoy posting progress of my projects as long as people are following them. I dont show all the screw-ups so it looks like I know what i'm doing. :)
 
Bruce,

We're watching... Oh man are we watching....... Did I mention that we're watching, LOL May not post all the time but tirelessly watching. Check in every morning to make sure I haven't missed anything, LOL. Every once in awhile I'll take an hour or two and re-read from the beginning. Stuff thats good I'll try to hit at least 5 times to commit it to memory or at least know what info is where for future reference.

-Josh
 
Thanks guys for tuning in and all your moral support. I need it. Here is a shot of the prettiest little floor plate. Too bad it doesnt work. Notice the hole is drilled too far forward and the mainspring contacts the frame. The contact wont allow the full hammer travel. Back to the drawing board. This time I'm making a brass one as a template and drilling it before I cut it to length. That way I can use a weak spring just for testing purposes and move the plate forward or back until the push rod is better centered and then cut it to length.

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Bruce I'm 63 years old and have seen and done a lot and I can't remember enjoying a WIP in progress ( except a few of my own ) as much as I have this. As far as the mistakes, you seem to have the mind to fix them. Dogs like you make me so happy that I joined this forum. Your work is outstanding. Thank you for letting us watch you play.
Larry
 
OK here is the temparary brass plate and a weak spring. I should have done this in the first place but anyway its going to work now. See how far back the pivot hole needs to be? Here is open and closed on the hammer and it is centered well now.

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Here is the new plate
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LR Adkins said:
Bruce I'm 63 years old and have seen and done a lot and I can't remember enjoying a WIP in progress ( except a few of my own ) as much as I have this. As far as the mistakes, you seem to have the mind to fix them. Dogs like you make me so happy that I joined this forum. Your work is outstanding. Thank you for letting us watch you play.
Larry
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Hi Larry, Thanks for joining the dog pack and hanging around my forum. This WIP is liable to be very long winded but its one of the most fun ever for me. There will be smoke and fire at the end too. 2thumbs
 
I haven't posted much either but I too have been watching in awe, checking several times daily. I got a few other irons in the fire and cannot even think of starting for a couple of weeks. Mine will not be as ornate by any means but thanks for working the bugs out and showing us the way.

Larry
 
What a way to relax. Its snowing outside, I just sat down with a cup hot choclate and re-read this thread, really studying it. I have been wanting to build my own muzzle loading pistol for a long time. Nothing on this scale, I want a Kentucky pattern flintlock. But I had planned on buying the lock and barrell, then fab the stock myself. I was really intimidated by it, but now you have inspired me Bruce, after the holidays Im going to get busy on my project. Thanks again.

Cant wait to see the smoke at the end.:D

Sean
 
I did some final filing on the hammer to get good contact on the nipple when the cap is in place. It needs to have a small contact area to ignite the cap but square enough to not lose flash around the hammer face.

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Gabe Newell said:
That would be me. And, yes, I feel very lucky.
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Hi Boss, Thanks for chiming in here.
It fired a cap today. I'm getting closer to the right spring rate and will be shaping the hammer in the next day or two. How do you feel about a bronze trigger guard? I've seen bronze furniture on the old guns before.
 
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